Woman raising granddaughter after parents' death

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) _ Yuma resident Elizabeth Davis is a grandmother who has become a parent again now that she is raising her son and daughter-in-law's infant after their tragic deaths late last month.

"I wasn't always the best mother, but I'm a great grandmother," Davis said as she sat in a chair holding the infant. "She is beautiful like her mommy and fat like her daddy was when he was a baby. She is perfect. We wouldn't have it any other way."

Davis' son, Sgt. Justin Spears, 28, and her daughter-in-law, Vilma Crespo-Spears, 26, were both killed in an automobile accident late last month in Germany, and she is now raising their 10-month-old daughter.

"Her name is Amira. It means princess in Iraqi," Davis said. "My son learned it while he was deployed there and thought it would make a nice name."

Amira, who was airlifted to a German hospital, was uninjured in the accident.

"She had a scratch on her hand and bruises on her stomach from the seat belt," Davis said. "From what I understand and have been told, she shouldn't be alive. God's hand is how she survived."

Davis described her son as full of life, a great father and a good son.

According to an article that appeared in Stars and Stripes, the military's independent newspaper, the accident occurred Dec. 30 on Autobahn 70 near Eltman when a vehicle driven by a 31-year-old German woman hit the Spears' vehicle.

The woman, who was driving on the wrong side of the highway, was also killed in the accident, according to the Bamberg highway patrol.

Spears, who was assigned to the U.S. Army's 9th Engineering Battalion in Germany, had recently returned from a 15-month deployment to Iraq with the 2nd "Dagger" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

Crespo-Spears, who had left the Army in 2006, had been living in Yuma with Davis before she went to Germany to visit her husband and decided to remain there with him until he finished his term.

"We went to Germany on vacation for three weeks in November," Davis said. "While we were there, Vilma said she was tired of not having Justin around and decided to stay."

Spears was born in Salinas, Calif., in 1979 and graduated from Yuma High School in 1997. He joined the Army in 2004.

"It was a difficult decision but it was his to make," Davis said. "I was OK with it."

Davis, a computer training specialist for the city of Yuma, said her son was scheduled to get out of the Army on Jan. 26 and the couple had planned to move back to Yuma.

The couple were laid to rest on Jan. 10 at the Sunset Vista Cemetery in Yuma.

Sitting in a chair with a photo of the couple, taken just 15 days before their deaths, Davis said she is comforted knowing they were happy together.

"He met Vilma while they were both still in the service and were married shortly before he went to Iraq. You could see the love they shared for each other by the expressions in their faces. They absolutely radiated when they saw one another."

Davis said she was informed of her son's death just hours after the accident occurred.

"Some officers came to the door," Davis said. "Just like in the movies it was those dreaded words, 'Ma'am, we regret to inform you ...' It was pretty surreal. It still is."

Davis said her sister, who was vacationing in Italy at the time of the accident, brought Amira back to Yuma on Jan. 9, the night before the funeral.

"(Amira) has been a bundle of joy. She helps put the shattered pieces together again," Davis said. "Now that she is here, we are going to make the best of it."

Davis said the outpouring of love and support the community has shown her since her son and daughter-in-law's death has been overwhelming.

"In the midst of this tragedy there is peace," Davis said.

Plaques will be hung for the Spearses on Jan. 31 at the Armed Forces Park in Yuma.